Fishing is a popular activity enjoyed by millions of people worldwide. While most who enjoy the activity do so in a leisure capacity, others do it for sport, for competition, or for their livelihood. Indeed, many competitions and tournaments exist wherein anglers compete to catch the most weight of a particular species of fish in a given amount of time. Such fishing contests are very popular, and most have adopted the “catch-and-release” method. In this method, fish are caught by anglers in a boat and then placed in one or more live wells in the boat, either stand-alone live wells or built into the boat. Prior to the end of the tournament, the anglers typically drive the boat back to the weigh-in station, retrieve the caught fish from the live wells, place the fish in a weigh-in bag, and carry the fish to the weigh-in station to log their catch and have the tournament results recorded. After the weigh-in, the anglers then release the fish back into the lake, hopefully to continue growing and become caught, and released, again in the future. One of the main goals of the catch-and-release method, and why it has been adopted by the major sport fishing associations, is to help maintain healthy fishing sources for generations to come.
In the catch-and-release method of many fishing tournaments, including largemouth bass tournaments, smallmouth bass tournaments, and so forth, it is a common requirement that the fish that are caught must be maintained in a live condition until the weigh-in, and then released back into the lake or other body of water at the end of the tournament.
While many types, sizes, styles, shapes, and brands of fishing boats exist, a common form of fishing boat, particularly for tournament fishing, is the bass boat. As with most boats, a bass boat has a bow and a stern. An elevated fishing or casting platform, or deck, is usually provided at the bow for one angler to fish from, and another elevated fishing or casting platform, or deck, is usually provided at the stern for a second angler. Each casting deck or platform is usually fitted with one or more pedestal-style seats, or perhaps a bicycle seat. The seats themselves are mounted atop a seat pole, and the bottom of the seat pole contains a smaller diameter extension or stem that is insertable into a receiving hole in the casting platform. Multiple storage compartments are typically provided beneath the bow and stern casting decks of a bass boat for storing fishing tackle, fish, clothing, emergency equipment, and so forth. Typically, each storage compartment has an opening which is covered by a hinged cover or lid that forms part of either the bow or stern casting deck. When the hinged cover is lifted and pivoted upward, a fisherman can access the interior of a storage compartment to insert into or remove an object from the compartment. When the hinged cover is lowered into the closed position, it typically lies flush with the surrounding casting deck area and can support the weight of a fisherman standing thereatop.
A driving console, or helm, is usually located between the bow and stern, and is usually mounted on the floor of the boat, not in an elevated position. Various electronics and other controls are typically located at the helm, including a steering wheel, a throttle, numerous gauges, indicators, and other feedback devices providing the driver with information about the boat, the engine, and various systems.
It has become common for many bass boats to be equipped with at least one, and often two or more live wells. Often, one live well is located beneath a compartment lid in the bow deck, and one or two additional live wells are located beneath a compartment lid in the stern deck. Basically, a live well is a water tank in the boat that is large enough to hold the fish that are caught. The live well is usually supplied with water from the body of water in which the boat is located, and is aerated in order to assure that oxygen is made available to the fish that it holds. Circulation of the water in the live well is another common feature that helps to maintain the fish in good condition. Pumps are used both to pump fresh water into the live well from the lake or other body of water and to recirculate the water in the live well. The live well is typically drained when the boat is stored for any extended time period. The piping or plumbing system for the live well is usually equipped with one or more valves that control the flow of fresh water to the live wells, the drainage of the water therefrom, and the recirculation of water therein.
Several types of pumps and aerators have been employed, with varying designs of the fluid path of the water depending on the type of pumps involved, the number and type of valves included in the plumbing, and the desires of the boat owner. Early forms of aerators included a pump to draw water in from the lake and spray the water out a distribution manifold in the form of small jets. Other forms used pumps to cause air to bubble up from the bottom of the live well. Still others use an air lift pump to cause air bubbles to travel up a water lift tube, bringing along entrained air in the water. Regardless of the many forms of aeration, a common component of such a system is a pump, such as a centrifugal rotary bilge pump, which is commonly known in the art. Many bass boats come equipped with through-hull transom pumping systems that pump water from the lake through the hull of the boat into the one or more live wells on board the boat via a plurality of water conveyance tubes and associated valves and actuators. Even more sophisticated systems have become common that include air-relief lines in the pumping system, and other various ways of preventing vapor lock in the piping system.
For tournament anglers, but also in general for casual or recreational anglers, it is often desirable (if not required) to bring the caught fish from the boat to another location in a live and healthy condition. This is achieved, in large part, by the attributes of the bass boat and the live wells described above. However, this is also facilitated by the use of transport containers. In general, a transport container comprises a portable compartment for holding water from either the lake or the boat's live well, along with the fish. The most common form of transport container is a flexible bag, commonly referred to as a weigh-in bag. As used herein, the term “bag” or “weigh-in bag” refers to all the common forms of transport containers. These bags include a closure mechanism, often a zipper, to ensure the fish do not escape and/or the water does not unintentionally exit the bag. Many bags also include handles to facilitate transport of the fish. But while these common transport bags are useful, they have many drawbacks.
In order to keep the fish alive, the bags must be filled with water, and typically this means the angler must open the bag's top enclosure (e.g., zipper, etc.), lean over the side of the boat, dip the bag in the lake, and bring the filled bag into the boat. But once the filled bag is in the boat, there is no easy way to retrieve fish from the live well and insert them into the bag. The bag is not freestanding, and therefore must be held or retained upright in some manner. Often this requires the use of a second person, which is inefficient, time-consuming, and frustrating. Many times, if there is a second person in the boat, that person is typically performing other tasks and cannot devote time to simply hold the bag.
Without a second person, the bag is unwieldy, spillage often occurs, and frustrations mount. While holding the bag or its handles with one hand, the angler must open the live well with the other hand, and attempt to retrieve the caught fish with only one hand. This is extremely difficult to do, particularly when the fish in the live well are, as desired, lively and healthy. The difficulty and time involved in the typical process also often results in losing fish out of the boat because the angler is incapable of maintaining the bag and capturing the fish. Obviously in tournament settings, even one lost fish can be the difference between winning and losing.
What is needed is a system for holding a bag in an upright and ready position to enable the angler to use both hands to retrieve the fish from the live well and safely and securely deposit the fish into the transport container. An additional benefit would be achieved by providing a system for automatically filling the bag with water. Still further benefits would be achieved by providing a system for easy use with boats of many common styles and varieties, using much equipment that already exists on the boats. Additional benefits would be achieved by providing a system that can be plumbed into the boat's live well plumbing system once, and provide the ability for a user to simply select whether, and when, to activate the system. Additional benefits would be achieved by providing a system that can be easily stored under the lid of a compartment.